If you haven’t thought about setting up an identity protection service, it’s always a good time to do so. Identity threats can be found almost anywhere, so taking the time to safeguard your identity now will save you a lot of time and money if it ever gets compromised in the future.
Learn more about Triangle's Better Checking account with identity protection
Log into idprotectme247.com to register and review your credit information
Like what you heard? Go ahead and share on your social medi...
If you haven’t thought about setting up an identity protection service, it’s always a good time to do so. Identity threats can be found almost anywhere, so taking the time to safeguard your identity now will save you a lot of time and money if it ever gets compromised in the future.
- Learn more about Triangle's Better Checking account with identity protection
- Log into idprotectme247.com to register and review your credit information
Like what you heard? Go ahead and share on your social media! Visit trianglecu.org to learn more about how we can serve you and don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Transcript:
Welcome to Money Tip Tuesday from the Making Money Personal podcast.
The threats to your identity are real.
Every day people are coming up with new and clever ways of stealing information from others.
Since so much of our activity is done online and digital, our personal information is all over the place.
If you’re like me, you probably have dozens of logins with UNs and PWs, you’ve got credit cards, rewards accounts, email accounts, and more.
If you don’t have an identity protection program yet, it’s time to get on it.
You’re probably thinking that there’s not much more to identity theft protection than, well, just guarding your identity.
Even though that’s true, the fact is, and I’ve recently learned, there’s a whole lot more that you can get with it.
I recently logged into idprotectme247.com that comes with my Better Checking account and I was pleasantly reminded why it’s important to use these protections.
It started when I got the regular, monthly notice in my email inbox that something in my credit changed.
Usually, I get the monthly message, but it always says no activity. This time it was different.
After the moment of panic, because there wasn’t anything I could recall that would affect my credit history, I sprang into action, and logged into idprotectme247.com.
When I logged in and checked my messages it came as a great relief to discover that the only thing that changed in my credit history was that I had an old credit card I was no longer using, so the bank closed it.
I checked all my other notices and even my credit report, and everything appeared to be in good shape with no suspicious activity to report.
The relief was great knowing that my identity had not been stolen. I even appreciated the notification because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to know that that credit line was closed.
So, if you’re not already using an ID protection service, I’ll share some of the most useful benefits of an identity monitoring platform.
I’m specifically referring to the ID Protect product that comes with a Triangle Better Checking account, but if you’re subscribed to a different one many of these benefits could be present as well.
First of all, the peace of mind is worth it. You know that if something happens you’ll be informed right away. No surprises. I get a monthly email stating if there’s activity. Most of the time there’s nothing, but at least I know that something’s running in the background and will let me know right away if something suspicious pops up.
It reminded me to review credit score and report. It’s important to be up on this. Without the notice, I wouldn’t have discovered that one of my credit lines was closed.
You also get more information than just your credit score. You get to see all your lines of credit, your payment history, and any notifications related to those accounts. It will literally show me a breakdown of all my payments and whether they were late or on time.
It has a widget that assessed my “identity threat” which was enlightening. Seeing green was a relief because that meant that my identity threat was low.
It’s just good to be aware of this stuff.
If you have a Better Checking account, you’re already partway there! Visit idprotectme247.com and register with your information and the access code you got when you opened your account.
Once you have access a simple 5-10 minute review every month is all you’ll need to make sure your identity is in good shape.
If you’re using a different id protection service, then I hope I’ve reminded you to log in and look around. Get familiar with your platform and check back regularly to make sure things continue to look good.
If there are any other tips or topics you’d like us to cover, let us know at tcupodcast@trianglecu.org and don't forget to like and follow our Making Money Personal FB page and look for our sponsor, Triangle Credit Union on Instagram and LinkedIn to share your thoughts.
Thanks for listening to today’s Money Tip Tuesday and be sure to check out our other tips and episodes on the Making Money Personal podcast.
Have a great day!
